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On July 17, 1941, a call was received by Walter Miller of Taber, Alberta, Canada from the First Presidency to preside over a newly formed Mission in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Mission was to take in the northern part of Alberta and eventually adjoining Provinces.
President Miller arrived in Edmonton on September 19, 1941 to take over his new duties and to begin organizing the Mission. With the help of N. Eldon Tanner, President of the Edmonton Branch, a Mission Home was secured at 9734--106th Street. This home was used as the Mission Headquarters, serving both as a Mission Office and Mission Home for the President and his family.
The Mission grew when the Province of Saskatchewan was taken from the North Central States Mission and added to the year-old Western Canadian Mission in December of 1942. November 21, 1960 marked another change in the boundaries when the Alaskan-Canadian Mission was formed from parts of the Western Canadian Mission, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
The offices of the Mission had been moved several times and it was now decided to move Mission Headquarters to Calgary. Temporary quarters were opened in Calgary in 1962 while awaiting the completion of the New Mission Office and Home. It was completed in June, 1963 and the Mission President and his family and the office staff moved into the Mission Office-Home complex at 910--70th Avenue South West.
Missionary work was now going well in the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan with the Lamanite work also progressing well on Reserves in both Provinces. In 1970, the name of the Mission was changed to the Alberta-Saskatchewan Mission.
In 1974, the mission name was changed to the CANADA CALGARY MISSION. Another boundary change took place in February 1976 when Saskatchewan was made a part of the new Canada Winnipeg Mission, and a final boundary change took place in June, 1980 when Cranbook, British Columbia Stake was made a part of our Mission. A new Mission Home for the Mission President and his family was acquired on August 26, 1985. The old Mission home-office complex was sold in June and on July 13, 1987 the Mission took occupancy of the new office at 6940 Fisher Road South East. And there you have our Mission as of 1987.
Since then, there have been more changes including new Mission boundaries and new Stakes in Calgary, Edmonton and Grande Prairie. (The Grand Prairie Alberta Stake was organized April 12, 1998.)
Update received from H. Dean Garrett (August, 2002)
The Canada Calgary Mission was divided into the Canada Edmonton and the Canada Calgary Missions in 1998 with the boundaries being the Bow River running through the center of Calgary. In January of 2002 , the boundaries were again changed to north of Calgary so that the three northern stakes in Calgary are now part of the Canada Calgary Mission. At the present time we have a mission complement of 200 including 5 couples and 12 sisters. We have 17 stakes in the mission boundaries, which makes for a lot of stake conferences! We are part of the North America Central Area with Elder Donald L. Staheli as area president and Elder Hafen, Elder Mickelsen and Elder Walker as counselors. Elder Walker was born and raised in Southern Alberta. The area authority seventy we function with is Elder Robert White from Edmonton." H. Dean Garrett, President
Update regarding the Canada Edmonton Mission received
September, 2002 from President Albert Roy
This mission was organized a little over four years ago, around July 1998, with Richard Andrus from Southern California being the first Mission President. Sister Roy and I came in July 2001 from Glasgow, Scotland.
The only Church unit under the direct responsibility of the Mission is the Yellowknife Branch with a membership of about 80, of whom 25 are active. It is located in the capital of the North West Territories, which exists only because of the nearby gold mines and the new diamond mines located some 300 miles further north.
Initially, there were eight Stakes in the Mission, one in the Grande Prairie area that was organized in April 1998, three around Edmonton, one in the Red Deer area, and the remaining three on the north side of Calgary. In September, 2001, a further Stake was organized in Edmonton, bringing the total to nine. On January 1, 2002, the Mission boundary was adjusted and the three Calgary Stakes were transferred back to the Calgary Mission along with 54 missionaries, reducing our complement from 191 to 137. This has been built up gradually, now stands at 151 and will reach 160 after the next transfer.
A new Temple of the smaller type has been constructed in Edmonton, located adjacent to the Riverbend Stake Center. It was dedicated in December 1999 and has been of great benefit to the members in Edmonton and the surrounding areas.
October 4, 2008
Calgary Temple announced at General Conference by President Thomas S. Monson.
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